Method of treating water



Jan. 17, 1939. c. J. FRANKFORTER 2,144,051

METHOD OF TREATING WATER Filed Oct. 29. 1935 Grimm Patented Jan. 17,1939 I 2,144,051

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,144,051 METHOD or TREATING WATER Clarence J. Frankfurter, Lincoln, Nebr.

Application October 29, 1935, Serial No. 47,325

6 Claims. (Cl. 210-16) This invention relates to the treatment of The various steps constituting the present inwater for the purpose of removing certain imvention will be clearly understood upon referring purities contained therein, such as salts of iron to the accompanying drawing, which represents and manganese, and especially salts containing a flow sheet of the entire process to which the ferrous and manganous ions. water is exposed. The raw water is permittedto 5 Water in many regions often becomes unfit for flow over or spill upon a series of superimposed drinking and other domestic purposes because of or vertically arranged trays containing particles the presence therein of relatively large quanof coke or any similar material of suitable size. tities of ferrous and manganous ions. These Coke particles which will pass a 2 mesh screen ions occur in quantities upward of one part per and be retained by a 4 mesh screen have been 10 million and have a tendency to cause precipitafound suitable, but any size may be employed as tion and corrosion. In addition, many of the well as any mineral matter which is porous in iron and manganese compounds found in water character, insoluble in water, and has a relatively become readily hydrolized and ionized in such rough surface or is otherwise similar in prop.-

l5 a way as to impart an acid reaction to the erties to coke. Any number of trays, spaced a water. suitable distance above each other, may be used,

It is old to sterilize water by continuously so that the water must pass over and through the adding an excess of either gaseous chlorine or coke particles on each tray, thereby becoming an aqueous solution of chlorine to the water in thoroughly aerated and saturated with oxygen a continually moving stream, passing the chlor-inor air. I 20 ated water over substances which cause the The aeration of the water'causes a diminution heavy metal compounds dissolved in water to in the amount of dissolved carbon dioxide conseparate out, and then passing the water over tained in the raw well water being treated, and carbon in suflicient quantity to convert the exsimultaneously increases the pH value of the cess chlorine into the chlorine ion; but no prewater, i. e., diminishes its acidity. Although the 25 vious methods of water treatment have been conwater does not become appreciably alkaline as cerned with the rapid removal of ferrous and a result of this treatment, its pH value usually manganous ions from large quantities of water varies from about 7.3 to 7.6, and may go as high with an exceedingly small amount of chlorine, .as 8.0. Satisfactory results have been obtained i. e., an amountwhich is insuflicient to spoil or with a pH as high as 9.0 and as low as 7.0, but '30 otherwise render the water unfit for drinking or when the pH value remains below 7.0, the ad- 'domestic uses generally. Although some sterilivantages of the present invention are substanzation of the water takes place in the process tially absent, and the subsequent steps of the of the present invention, it is primarily for the process produce decidedly inferior results.

purpose ofremoving the undesirable ferrous and It is also possible to increase-the pH value by 35 manganous ions. I other means as by adding lime or other alkaline It is an object of this invention to devise a' compound. Furthermore, satisfactory results process for treating otherwise pure and drinkmay be obtained by chlorlnating the water first able water to rid such water of the greater porand then adding the lime, as it is a primary 40 tion of its ironfand manganese content. object to change the water over to the alkaline 40 A further object of the invention isto provide side, 'and thereby remove substantially all the a method of removing the iron and manganese carbon dioxide contained in the. water and rencompounds, which are usually present in the der the oxides formed more insoluble. form of their lower, relatively soluble oxides, by The water next falls or flows or is otherwise converting these oxides into higher oxides which conducted into a. pipe, chamber or compartment 45 are readily coagulatable and removable, and where chlorine is introduced. The quantity or accomplishing this without rendering the water chlorine employed, which may be in gaseous unfit for domestic consumption in any way. form or dissolved in a suitable solvent, such as In carrying out the process the water is first water, averages about 0.25 part per million, and

aerated so as to increase its pH value and render seldom exceeds 0.5 part per million. It is highly 50 it slightly alkaline. It is then treated with small desirable to avoid any excess chlorine, as larger quantities of chlorine, and passed through a conquantities yield water which is unfit for-drinking tact bed, after which it is permitted to coagulate and domestic pu poses generally. J

by standing and is finally filtered through ordi- Some sterilization of the water takes place as nary sand or other similar filters. result of the chlorination, but the primary 55 purpose of exposing the water to chlorine is to oxidize the salts of iron and manganese to their higher oxides so that they will precipitate out. and can then be removed, as by the steps to be described. As is well known, chlorine is capable of decomposing'water and uniting with the hydrogen in the water, at the same time liberating oxygen. It is the oxygen so formed which acts upon the iron and manganese compounds, resulting in their oxidization and transformation into precipitable salts.

In accordance with the present invention, very small quantities of chlorine are capable of oxidizing the salts in exceedingly large quantities of water, as the preliminary aeration and increase in the pH value of the water renders the employment of large quantities of chlorine unnecessary. This is exceedingly advantageous, since any large amount of halogen has well known deleterious effects on drinking or other similar waters.

The chlorine may be introduced by means of any chlorinating apparatus, such as an-ordinary Wallace and Tiernan chlorlnator, but some difficulty is encountered in direct introduction from the cylinder owing to the small amount of chlorine gas required. It has therefore been found preferable to first prepare a solution of chlorine in water of predetermined concentration, and then to add a measured amount of thischlorine solution to the stream of raw well water.

After chlorination, the water is conducted through a contact bed of gravel at the rate of two gallons per cubic foot of gravel per minute. The gravel may be common washed gravel or may be of any suitable size, a material graded to pass through a 4 mesh screen and retained by a 10 mesh screen having been found satisfactory. Other materials, which are physically and mechanically similar to gravel, may be used.

As the water passes through the contact bed, .the pieces of gravel become coated with hydrated oxides of iron and'manganese. These deposits of oxides have a certain catalytic elfect, and facilitate the transformation of the lower metal oxides into the higher coagulatable oxides, at the same time fostering precipitation and coagulation. When the coating of oxides on the gravel becomes excessive and interferes with the-passage of water through the contact bed, the bed of material may be washed by reversing the flow at a slightly increased rate.

- The water is next conducted to a retentionis unnecessary to employ a coagulating agent, as.

the preceding steps produce a precipitate which is self-coagulating either instantly or after a relatively short period of retention in the retention basin. As the precipitated material becomes to slow down or otherwise interfere with the flow of water therethrough. The water normally fiows at a rate of between two and six gallons per square foot of filter surface per minute through this filter, and comes out as finished water which is substantially free of iron and manganese, containing as low as 0.02 to 0.03 part per million 'of these substances, and is otherwise purer and more suitable for domestic consumption.

It has been found that, where iron salts only are to be removed, it is not necessary'to pass the water through the contact bed, and furthermore it is not always essential to expose the water to the period of retention and the sand filtration. Most waters, however, containing iron and manganese salts, were most efiiciently relieved of these materials by subjecting the water to the combined contact and retention periods as well as the sand filtration.

It will beunderstood that the aeration of the water in accordance with this invention is controlled, and that the water is exposed to aeration only long enough to obtain the desired pH value, which is preferably between 7.3 and 7.6, although slight variations from these values have been found satisfactory.

The drawing is merely exemplary of one arrangement of apparatus for producing water which is free of iron and manganese in accordance with the present invention. It is to be understood that this invention is not to be restricted in any manner, and that it is entitled .to a reasonable range of equivalents.

I claim: 1

1. A process for treating water containing oxidizable metallic salts having ferrous and manganous ions which comprises increasing the pH value of the water above its normal pH value so that the water has a pH of substantially 7.0, treating the water with chlorine and oxidizing the metallic salts to precipitatable compounds, and

oxidize said salts and form precipitatable compounds, and removing the precipitated material.

3. A process for treating water which comprises raising the pH value of water above its normal pH value and so that it has a pH on the alkaline side of neutrality, exposing the water to chlorine, passing the treated water through a contact bed, and removing the precipitated material formed.

4. A process for treating water containing oxidizable metallic salts having ferrous and manganous ions which comprises raising the pH value of water above its naturally occurring pH value and so that it has a pH on the alkaline side of neutrality, oxidizing the salts in the water to a precipitated state by subjecting the water to the action of chlorine, exposing the chlorinated water to a catalyst, passing the water through a coagulating and settling chamber, and removing the precipitated material which does not settle by filtration.

5. A process for treating water;which comprises raising the pH value of water containing oxidizable metallic salts having ferrous and manganous ions above its naturally occurring pH value and sothat it hasa. pH on the alkaline side of neutrality, oxidizing the said salts in the water to a precipitated condition by subjecting the water to, the action of chlorine, passing the water containing the precipitated material through a porous substance thereby coating the porous substance with a portion of the precipitated material and catalytically effecting the precipitation of additional precipitatable material, passing the water through a coagulating and settling chamber, removing the settled material, and filtering the water to removethe remainder of the precipitated material.

6. A process for treating water containing oxidizable metallic salts having ferrous and manganous ions which comprises raising the pH value of the water above its naturally occurring pH value and so that it has a pH on the alkaline side of neutrality, subjecting the water to the action of chlorine thereby oxidizing the greater portion of the said salts in the water to a precipitated condition, passing the water over a catalyst in order to precipitate additional precipitatable material, coagulating the precipitated material, and removing the precipitated and coagulated material by sedimentation and filtration.

CLARENCE J. FRANKFORTER. 

